- DAMASCUS (AFP) - A coalition
of Palestinian militant groups based in Damascus, including the political
wings of the hardline Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, promised revenge
Tuesday for Israel's slaying of the chief of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine.
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- "We affirm that the blood of the head of the PFLP,
Abu Ali Mustapha, and all the fallen martyrs will be avenged," the
groups said in a statement, a day after Israeli rockets struke Mustapha
at his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
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- "We know when and how to force the enemy to pay
the price for its crimes," the movements said, adding "the Nazi
Zionist enemy does not understand anything but the language of force and
armed struggle."
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- Among other groups signing the declaration were the PFLP,
the breakaway PFLP-General Command faction of Ahmed Jibril, and the Democratic
Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which carried out a commando raid
on an Israeli military post in the Gaza Strip Saturday that left three
Israeli soldiers dead.
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- The groups also piled blame on the United States, in
line with mounting Arab hostility to the policies of US President George
W. Bush.
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- "The United States, Israel's premier ally, has encouraged
the Israeli leadership to commit this odious crime," the groups said,
speaking of Mustafa's death as part of Israel's "policy of assassination"
of Palestinian activists.
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- US President George W. Bush on Friday had blamed Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat for failing to stop the 11 months of unrest, while
making little mention of Israel.
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- While the US State Department on Monday denounced Israel's
killing of Mustafa, it continued to put the burden of responsibilty on
the Palestinians.
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- In Syria, Palestinian refugee camps observed a two-hour
strike Tuesday morning in honor of Mustapha, the official SANA news agency
reported.
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- Black flags and posters of the slain leader hung from
houses and shops.
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- In Lebanon, meanwhile, a member of the PFLP's central
committee also sounded a call for revenge.
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- "Our riposte will be hard and strike American and
Israeli interests, wherever they are found," Abu Ali Tallal, who resides
in the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain Helweh, told AFP.
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- "We no longer have any any choice but to turn ourselves
into human bombs and pursue the Israeli enemy everywhere inside (Israel)
and abroad."
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